Cyberbullying prevalent among middle schoolers

One quarter of parents recently polled by Norton said that their children had been involved in cyberbullying on the Internet.

The survey of about 1,000 parents (with children ages 8 to 18) found that of the children involved in cyberbullying, most of them — 68 percent — said their child had been the victim while 17 percent admitted their child had been the actual mean ol’ bully. Another 15 percent said their children were witnesses.

Girls more so than boys were also more likely to be involved.

Parents seemed a bit helpless to stop it. Just 40 percent of the parents whose child had witnessed cyberbullying talked to their child about how best to stop it. And when asked how “in the know” they felt about their child’s online activity, 18 percent of parents said they “sort of” know and 10 percent said “I ask, but never feel like he or she is telling me everything.”